A note on Develop has further indications that Battlefield 3 will not be released through Steam, as speculation mounts that DICE's military shooter sequel will not appear on Valve's download service. They quote a comment from a report from financial research firm Baird based on a meeting with GameStop: "The upcoming EA title Battlefield 3 will be sold as a download through GameStop, but not through Steam," Baird says GameStop executives told them. "Given Steam's dominance – and insistence on users downloading a Steam client application – publishers are likely to be receptive to a competitive alternative." Thanks Computer and Video Games.

So it will be on Impulse? Not a major loss. As long as it's available online or Amazon gives it a significant discount with a boxed preorder, I don't really care. I plan on buying day one, so not having access to it for an Xmas Steam sale or something isn't a big deal.